The present invention relates to proactive service management in a broadband network and more specifically to proactive service management in a xDSL network.
Service affecting problems caused by failures of a network are generally discovered by calls from impacted customers who have detected a problem with the network. Once receiving the call, a customer service representative (CSR) attempts to gather as much information as possible about the customer (e.g., telephone number, line features, service profile) in an effort to understand the nature of the service problem.
In attempting to troubleshoot the problem, the CSR may access a Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS) repair tool to test a POTS line. However, the CSR must access the POTS repair system to manually perform the test. Additionally, the CSR may manually perform OAM (Operations And Maintenance) tests to monitor the virtual connectivity of the network. However, the CSR first uses the customer's name or telephone number to locate a corresponding Network Interface Card (NIC) ID serving a RT DSLAM. The virtual connectivity is finally tested using the account information. This process is time-consuming and does not efficiently utilize CSR contact time with customers.
The repair process is driven by customer contact, which causes inconsistent reporting of repair problems. For example, a repair center may receive multiple calls for one repair problem. If multiple CSRs have to go through the above process for each call, the repair process becomes time consuming and costly. Additionally, customer service suffers because customers must continually wait while the problem is diagnosed by the CSR.
Once the problem is diagnosed, a technician is dispatched to investigate the problem. However, no guidance is given to the technician except for report problem and the location of the fault. The technician analyzes the problem and determines how to resolve the problem. Thus, the time taken to analyze the problem causes the repair process to become even more time-consuming.
Accordingly, the repair process is reactive, time consuming, and costly.